Over a decade ago, I sat in a classroom, preparing for my real estate exam. During that time, I recall having a particular interest in the Commercial Real Estate portion of the course. And, while we jumped into residential real estate with both –err, all four feet, that interest remained dormant.
I was occasionally intrigued by the opportunity to assist a client with a commercial lease or sale, which has become a more frequent occurrence recently. During each of these opportunities, I’m blown away by how under-serviced our industry’s commercial real estate segment is.
So, when I was fortunate enough to be allowed to list for sale a stunning mixed-use, main-street, historic building in Downtown Milton recently–this place is incredible BTW, my creative juices got flowing!
While most commercial real estate properties have a handful of low-quality cellphone photos, no description, and little information about the property, let alone its potential, we decided to ramp it up (this sounds awfully familiar to a conversation from our early days in residential real estate sales!)
Here’s a list of things we did with this property to spice it up:
Virtual Staging and Renovations
This particular property is vacant, so we were able to clean it up and have photos virtually staged to help prospective buyers envision the potential of the space and appreciate the size –space always feels smaller when not properly furnished or vacant. From one of the residential apartments to the two commercial spaces, we helped buyers envision how great the space is. We also had the main floor edited in three variations, one as a cafe, another as a retail clothing store, and the last as a trendy office, each strategically done to ensure buyers could envision the building’s potential.
BEFORE
AFTER
Measured and Floorplan Created
A previous listing for the building stated an estimate of the square footage at around 3,100 square feet. We spent the money to create a professional floorplan, which revealed a hidden 500+ square feet! Talk about return on your investment. This simple service added tremendous value to the building.
Cleaning
This vacant building wasn’t filthy by any means, but the floors were dirty, and the space hadn’t been used much recently. A thorough cleaning assisted in creating a better first impression and improved the overall appearance of the building.
Window Vinyl Wrap
We had over fifty square feet to get creative rather than simply leaning a “For Sale” sign in the storefront window. Therefore, we decided to have a custom vinyl wrap made. The vinyl wrap grabs the attention of passersby, ensuring they know the building is available. It also had a large QR code and critical points of the property.
Lastly, a twenty-one-inch, wall-mounted hanging sign also presented an excellent opportunity to get creative. Here we made a sign that said “Your Business Belongs Here” to assist visitors to envision their logo and brand in the hottest area in Town.
3D Tour
No different from how we’d prepare a residential listing, this massive building deserved a 3D virtual tour … so we made one. Now buyers could virtually walk through every square inch of the upper levels to truly appreciate the space before visiting.
Combine these efforts with social advertisements, among other things, and the place stands out from the crowd … to say the least.
CHECK OUT THE PROPERTY HERE – 196 Main Street E, Milton
